A man wrapped in bandages and dressed in what appeared to be hospital scrubs was seen walking in the middle of a Los Angeles freeway on Oct. 29.
Lisa Shields caught the man on her cell phone camera as she slowly drove by on Interstate 10, heading west towards the Interstate 405 interchange. The man shuffled along the dotted white line between two lanes as if in a daze.
“His head and left hand are heavily bandaged,” said Shields, who said his eyes looked like they were closed and he was carrying a “very sharp knife.”
YouTube user reggie076 also captured video footage of the man walking on the freeway, and this time he could be seen tearing bandages off of his head and throwing them on the ground.
“Slowed down traffic .. thinking it was an accident,” read the caption. “Nope just a man in bandages walking in the early afternoon down a major freeway.”
At first glance, it may have appeared to be an elaborate Halloween stunt meant to frighten busy freeway drivers. But after Shields heard from the California Highway Patrol (CHP), she found out it wasn’t.
“I called 911 and they spoke to CHP who said it was not a prank and he was mentally ill,” said Shields on Instagram. “They picked him up and brought him back to the hospital.”
“I’m still in shock. So surreal,” she said. “It’s one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen.”
When officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department approached the man, he reportedly ran at them while holding the knife. The officers opened fire, and the man was later pronounced dead.
The officers opened fire, and the man was fatally wounded and died on the scene.
